Clementine Tree From Pip.

[greenrook]

Hello expert plant people. Just for fun, I planted some Clementine pips in ordinary compost and stuck them on the kitchen windowsill. 2 of them germinated, one grew very tall and leggy, and didn't thrive; the other was more sturdy, and eventually put out lots of white flowers. It now has 5 very healthy-looking fruits on it, but they don't look anything like Clementine oranges, they are green and tapering, about 3 inches long, and they look for all the world like small peppers. There is no mistake, I had NO pepper seeds in the house, nor any other kind of seed, what went into those plant pots were Clementine pips. The compost was from a new bag, from B and Q. Has anyone come across this sort of thing, is it to do with hybridization or whatever? Thank you all - G.

[Buenchico]

Sex rears it's ugly head again!

You might not have introduced any other type of plant into the immediate area but the bee that pollinated your clementine plant probably did!

It certainly seems to be a possibility. Quote:
"Clementines lose their desirable seedless characteristic when they are cross-pollinated with other fruit. To prevent this, in 2006 growers such as Paramount Citrus in California threatened to sue local beekeepers to keep bees away from their crops".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine

[Mosaic]

Pictures please!

[greenrook]

I don't think I can blame the bees Chico, the plant has never been off the kitchen window-sill. The other plant (from a pip out of the same fruit) never flowered, and we thought it might be a male of the species, and had done the pollination job. Mosaic, I will try to send a picture, I've never done it before but my missis thinks she'll be able to do it.

[Buenchico]

If you need instructions for uploading a photo, please see my post here:
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Technology/Question1425764.html